As the designation “spinal column” suggests, the human spine function as a pillar supporting the center of the body. It is formed by a number of vertebrae which are stacked in a manner similar to a mosaic with the vertebral disks between them. A spinal cavity is formed in each of the vertebrae which make up the spinal column, and with the vertebrae stacked to constitute the spinal column, the spinal cavities formed in the individual vertebrae will be aligned in a row. As a result, there is formed within the spinal column the spinal canal, which contains the spinal cord.
With the spinal column articulated as described above, intervertebral foramina present between each pair of stacked vertebrae allow the nerves which branch from the spine to pass out. The nerves which pass out from the spinal column through the intervertebral foramina lead to every part of the body, from the muscles of the hands and feet to the internal organs.
Consequently, if the spine becomes distorted, constriction may occur between vertebrae, causing the disk between two vertebrae to stick out. This in turn can exert pressure on nerve roots passing through the surrounding area, resulting in symptoms such as pain or tingling of the hands, feet, lower back, shoulders, or head.
Spinal traction is one known treatment for relieving such symptoms. Traction involves using a device such as that disclosed, for example, in Patent Citation 1, in order to pull and stretch the spinal column in the cephalocaudal direction.
However, traction methods involve the use of large-scale apparatus such as electric motors and their power supply devices, control devices and so on, so it is no easy matter for patients to purchase such devices individually. Moreover, even if a patient is able to purchase such a device, they are often complicated to operate and entail the application of vigorous external force under power from an electric motor, making technical knowledge a prerequisite for proper control and operation. It is difficult to conceive of an individual patient being able to operate such a device.
Accordingly, conventional treatment through traction methods required patients with physical problems to visit a hospital or other location equipped with specialized traction equipment. This imposed a significant burden on the patient and made it difficult to receive traction treatment on a frequent basis, and a resultant problem was that in many cases it was difficult for patients to receive optimal treatment.
Since load placed upon the spine represents an additional cause of distortion of the spine, if no measures are taken to somehow fundamentally reduce the load on the spine, even if the spacing between the vertebrae is expanded through traction they will tend to quickly return to their original state. For this reason, to date it has proven extremely difficult to fundamentally relieve patient symptoms that are caused by pressure on the nerves in association with constriction between vertebrae as described above.                Patent Citation 1: JP-A-6-38996        